Oilfield operations, such as surveying, drilling, wireline testing, completions, production, planning and oilfield analysis, may be performed to locate and gather valuable downhole fluids. During the oilfield operations, data is collected for analysis and/or monitoring of the oilfield operations. Such data may include, for example, subterranean formation, equipment, historical and/or other data. Data concerning the subterranean formation is collected using a variety of sources, and may be static or dynamic. Static data relates to, for example, formation structure, and geological stratigraphy that define the geological structures of the subterranean formation. Dynamic data relates to, for example, fluids flowing through the geologic structures of the subterranean formation over time. Such static and/or dynamic data may be collected to learn more about the formations and the valuable assets contained therein.
Sources used to collect static data may be seismic tools, such as a seismic truck that sends compression waves into the earth. Signals from these waves are processed and interpreted to characterize changes in the anisotropic and/or elastic properties, such as velocity and density, of the geological formation at various depths. This information may be used to generate basic structural maps of the subterranean formation. Other static measurements may be gathered using downhole measurements, such as core sampling and well logging techniques. Core samples may be used to take physical specimens of the formation at various depths. Well logging involves deployment of a downhole tool into the wellbore to collect various downhole measurements, such as density, resistivity, etc., at various depths. Such well logging may be performed using, for example, a drilling tool and/or a wireline tool. Once the well is formed and completed, fluid flows to the surface using production tubing and other completion equipment. As fluid passes to the surface, various dynamic measurements, such as fluid flow rates, pressure, and composition may be monitored. These parameters may be used to determine various characteristics of the subterranean formation.
Sensors may be positioned about an oilfield to collect data relating to various oilfield operations. For example, sensors in the drilling equipment may monitor drilling conditions, sensors in the wellbore may monitor fluid composition, sensors located along the flow path may monitor flow rates, and sensors at the processing facility may monitor fluids collected. Other sensors may be provided to monitor downhole, surface, equipment or other conditions. Such conditions may relate to the type of equipment at the wellsite, the operating setup, formation parameters, or other variables of the oilfield. The monitored data is often used to make decisions at various locations of the oilfield at various times. Data collected by these sensors may be further analyzed and processed. Data may be collected and used for current or future operations. When used for future operations at the same or other locations, such data may sometimes be referred to as historical data.
The data may be used to predict downhole conditions, and make decisions concerning oilfield operations. Such decisions may involve well planning, well targeting, well completions, operating levels, production rates and other operations and/or operating parameters. Often this information is used to determine when to drill new wells, re-complete existing wells, or alter wellbore production. Oilfield conditions, such as geological, geophysical and reservoir engineering characteristics may have an impact on oilfield operations, such as risk analysis, economic valuation, and mechanical considerations for the production of subsurface reservoirs.
Data from one or more wellbores may also be analyzed to plan or predict various outcomes at a given wellbore. In some cases, the data from neighboring wellbores or wellbores with similar conditions or equipment may be used to predict how a well will perform. A large number of variables and large quantities of data may be used to consider in analyzing oilfield operations. It is, therefore, often useful to model the behavior of the oilfield operation to determine the desired course of action. During the ongoing operations, the operating conditions may need adjustment as conditions change and new information is received.
Techniques have been developed to model the behavior of various aspects of the oilfield operations, such as geological structures, downhole reservoirs, wellbores, surface facilities as well as other portions of the oilfield operation, and there are different types of simulators for different purposes. For example, there are simulators that focus on reservoir properties, wellbore production, or surface processing. Furthermore, attempts have been made to consider a broader range of data in oilfield operations and couple together different types of simulators.
Despite the development and advancement of managing oilfield data for oilfield operations, a need continues to exist for techniques for facilitating workflow collaboration and data sharing between multiple individuals. The amount of oil field data, or exploration and production data, available to exploration geoscientists and Exploration and Production (E&P) professionals is enormous. Exploration and production data is often stored in unstructured databases, resulting in inefficient management of exploration and production data and difficulty for users in locating relevant exploration and production data to their particular projects and tasks.
One specific difficulty encountered by many users, for example, relates to the management of reference datums for time domain data such as well and seismic data. A reference datum is an agreed and known value, such as the elevation of a benchmark or sea level, to which other measurements are corrected. In seismic data, the term refers to an arbitrary planar surface to which corrections are made and on which sources and receivers are assumed to lie to minimize the effects of topography and near-surface zones of low velocity.
One specific reference data is referred to as a seismic reference datum (SRD), which corresponds to the depth where seismic time is zero. For marine acquisitions, the SRD may be set to zero, based essentially on the mean sea level (MSL) location of the senders and receivers for the survey. However, for land acquisitions, each seismic survey may have a different SRD based upon the depth of the senders and receivers relative to MSL.
Conventional collaborative E&P environments, such as collaborative petro-technical application environments, may associate each project with a single SRD to establish a single reference for the time domain for the project. However, with increased sharing of data between multiple users, an increased likelihood exists that different seismic and other time domain data may be related yet have different SRD values. As a result, when time domain data needs to be added to a shared repository or project, the data is converted for the SRD associated with the project. In some instances, this may require that the data be manually exported, transformed, and then reimported prior to adding the data to a shared project, all of which may be time-intensive operations.
Therefore, a substantial need continues to exist in the art for an improved manner of managing time domain data in a collaborative petro-technical application environment.